My review of July 6th Island Princess finally posted

[CRUISERSWITHKIDS]

My review of the NB July 6th Island Princess cruise to Alaska was finally posted. Take a look!!! But I don't quite understand, they had a separate section for the room review and a separate section for the port review, which I filled out but was not on my posted review. I'll get busy and write my review on the ports and excursions as well as a review of our room.

[CRUISERSWITHKIDS]

OK...I just didn't look close enough at the review. At the end of the main review, directly below, it says read the alaska port review by cruiserswithkids. Thanks to my hubbys sharp eyes for seeing that! Though it still doesn't show you the room review:confused:. Oh well...I'm not going to worry about that. If anybody wants to know what it was like in a minisuit with 2 adults and 2 teenagers, I'll be happy to tell them!

[gertz]

Saw your post and since we will be on the Island August 17th went over and read your review.

There were so many similarities to some of the thing we will be doing and have done it was amazing.

We will be staying at the Pan Pacific. Vancouver is a wonderful city with so much to do. If you ever go back try to go two or three days early there is so much to do and see there.

This will be our 4th time to Alaska. Twice on the Coral and twice on the Island our favorite ships. We have stayed at the Kenai Princess lodge and we did the Kenai Fjord's 6 hr tour when we were there. This time we are going to do the 9 hr northwestern Kenai tour and we will be staying in Seward a couple of days. IMO and a lot of others Kenai NP is one of the top 3 or 4 places to see in Alaska.

We always get a mini and the last time to Alaska we took our grand daughter just turning 13. To say we had a wonderful time would be an understatement. However, 3 in a mini is crowded 4 I don't know how you did it.:eek: I would have put them across the hall.

Early seating IMO is still the best. If we are going to be late from a tour or something we always let the waiters know and we will book a speciality restaurant or go to the HC and you can go to anytime.

Doing a lot of IMO's here but in my opinion you guys tried to do to much. 3 or 4 days land for us is enough and we do it ourselves.

Enjoyed the review I think it deserved a + also. But the important thing is you had a great time.:D

Jack

for the well educated

[CRUISERSWITHKIDS]

Thank you Jack for the kind words reguarding my review! It was great to know that somebody enjoyed it and that it wasn't a waste of time posting it.

As for our minisuit, we were in cabin C721. It was located starboard side, aft. Though it was a a bit of a walk to get to some places on the ship since we were so far back, I found it to be a perfect location. And walking wasn't a bad a thing considering how much they fed us!! Though if you have any physical limitations, you may not find it to be such a great location. We were 3 doors down from the public aft balcony area that not many people knew about. It was never crowded even on the scenic cruising through Glacier Bay or College Fjords. When the ship was stopped in Glacier Bay and college Fjords for the port side viewing, we were on the aft balcony. When it turned, we were close enough to just walk inside to our balcony in our room. There wasn't any hallway noise to speak of either. We were close but not directly across from the laundry facility. Not much noise from that either. It was nice so we didn't have to lug the dirty laundry very far and able to keep a close eye on it. (though it didn't stop one lady from moving our laundry and other peoples as soon as it completed the cycle. Which was disturbing. She even left some of the wet clothing on the ironing board! We did not let it sit. We were prompt to return to move it to the dryer. It couldn't have been sitting for over a minute or 2 before she moved it herself) but that is a whole other thread!!

The minisuit was beginning to show some wear. A few stains on the carpet and the grout in the shower/tub area could have used a good bleaching but nothing that made us feel as though it was dirty. Just aged a bit. The vanity in the bathroom was big enough for me to apply my makeup and my husband to shave at the sametime comfortably without bumping elbows. But...it was not big enough for my teenage daughter and myself to apply makeup at the same time. She ended up taking over the desk area in the room to use as her vanity and that worked well.

The hairdryer was located next to the desk. I felt as though it didn't get hot enough or have enough power. But I made do of course. The hairdryers in the Princess lodges were much better. I don't know if maybe this is some kind of fire code on a ship? Who knows.

I have read many negatives reguarding the mattresses. Yes, they are in need of being replaced. There is an obvious valley/dip to the center of them though I did not feel that I needed to call to have it replaced nor did I feel the need to request an egg crate. I slept well. This is coming from somebody that sleeps on a Temperpedic mattress at home, so I do know what a quality mattress feels like.

I would not say that the closet space provided was abundant, but it was large enough since we were creative with the storage of 4 persons clothing. We used every square inch available to us. If we would have been thinking, we would have moved the life jackets to under the bed during our travel. They still would have been easily accessable.

I don't know what everybody else thinks about this idea, but I was thinking it would have been nice to have a curtain by the closet area. Many times when we were getting ready in the morning, or getting ready for the evening, there would be one person in the bathroom, one person changing, and the other 2 lounging, waiting their turn. Since you are limited on private areas, it would be simple to pull the curtain while you were changing. I have no problem changing in front of my husband, but I do keep my modesty when my children are around.

All in all the minisuit was nice. It was tight at times with 4 people, but it was doable. Our room steward, Louis, did an excellent job of keeping the area tidy considering the amount of clutter that easily accumulated with 4 people in a small space. If/when we cruise again with the kids, I may consider booking 2 cabins. But I'm not complaining. With all the information on CC, I knew what I was getting into.